Metal Meets Yoga

In the last couple of months I picked up this thing called yoga. You might have heard of it. That thing where you do strength and flexibility poses and it’s supposed to make you strong, limber, and cleansed in the mind and body. Ask a yogi and they will probably give you a more philosophical answer to what yoga does for a body. In layman’s terms, all I can tell you is that I feel freakin’ good when it’s over. I am getting more flexible and stress-free and that’s kind of important at my ripe old age of 40. I attribute my progress specifically to my twice-weekly sessions. See, only twice a week and I have come so far. Who says they don’t have time for this? Anyway. When it’s over, I feel like all I need is a shower and a bed – I feel so relaxed. Something must be working and I found that I am starting to “need” these yoga sessions twice a week. It’s kind of addicting.

What does this have to do with metal? I am getting to that. Currently, the yoga instructor is more or less a volunteer doing his best from what he learns online. One thing that seems to be overlooked is the background music. A session I went to in a professional studio was accompanied by ambient soothing sounds and music. I thought it was very nice despite it not being metal. It was very relaxing. About a week ago, here at my humble temporary home for a few months, (no, I am not in prison), the volunteer actually brought in metal music for the background music. I didn’t think this was a bad idea, of course. Why would I? Metal is good for everything to include blogging, driving, exercise, and sex. Why wouldn’t it be good for yoga? Though, I have to say, his song choice didn’t come together compatible with the timing of our stretching, strength, and core yoga. I felt the music needed some kind of direction and tone. So, I offered my assistance and asked if he minded I make a playlist. The answer was no he didn’t mind and this is the basis of this article. It is possible to do yoga to metal? Yes, it is. But, seriously there is no slipknot here. That’s just ridiculous. I chose my songs carefully.

I did choose mostly the softer, musical side of metal for my experiment. At the end of the session I managed to have a group of about 10 people listen to Insomnium, Opeth, Soulfly, and Ensiferum. I’m giggling inside right now. Here is what I picked which amounted to about a 48-minute session…for which a couple of people actually complemented the music. I couldn’t help, but gloat at the bands I exposed them to. What they don’t know won’t hurt them. If you are like me dabbling in yoga for a more fit heart and mind, I recommend his playlist…in order if you have a choice in background music. Enjoy!

First up was the stretching portion…gotta loosen up the bee’s knees and chicken’s elbows a bit and center yourself.

Time for the strength portion, to include moving into to core after about 20 minutes. I chose songs with lyrics for this portion.

I actually questioned if Anathema fit. What do you think? This was the transition from strength to core…mostly toward the end of this song.